Perdaily.comtag:www.perdaily.com,2009-09-01://12015-03-01T23:34:30Zpublic. education. reform.Movable Type Pro 6.1"NEGOTIATING" THE END OF UTLA?tag:www.perdaily.com,2015://1.7612015-03-01T23:15:19Z2015-03-01T23:34:30Z(Mensaje se repite en Español)
Below are several rules that equally apply to good poker playing and good United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union teacher representation and negotiations with Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) administration. Breaking these rules in either poker or the present union negotiations and the results could be disasterous.
1. Never sit down at a poker game that's too rich for your blood.
2. Don't telegraph to the opposition what cards you are holding.
3. Don't bluff the opposition in either poker or negotiations, unless you are willing to follow through with what you have threatened with a reasonable likelihood of succeeding.
And in the present salary negotiations between UTLA and LAUSD there is something far greater at stake than whether or not teachers get paid more after years of no salary or cost of living increase. What is also at stake- and yet remains unacknowledged- is the likelihood that if UTLA calls a strike that it will not be able to sustain or enforce it. This could very well destroy what remains of an already demoralized union and rank and file- and with it the very existence of UTLA that has stood by for years while LAUSD has put the prerequisites for this final solution in place.Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

Below are several rules that equally apply to good poker playing and good United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union teacher representation and negotiations with Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) administration. Break these rules in either poker or the present union negotiations and the results could be disasterous.

1. Never sit down at a poker game that's too rich for your blood.

2. Don't telegraph to the opposition what cards you are holding.

3. Don't bluff the opposition in either poker or negotiations, unless you are willing to follow through with what you have threatened with a reasonable likelihood of succeeding.

And in the present salary negotiations between UTLA and LAUSD there is something far greater at stake than whether or not teachers get paid more, after years of no salary or cost of living increase. What is also at stake- and yet remains unacknowledged- is the likelihood that if UTLA calls a strike that it will not be able to sustain or enforce it. This could very well destroy what remains of an already demoralized union rank and file- and with it the very existence of UTLA that has stood by for years while LAUSD has put the prerequisites for this final solution in place.

It is precisely because teachers have not had a raise in so long that they are in no position to sustain a strike- and LAUSD knows it. As I have said for years in applying the same principle to falsely targeted teachers, "LAUSD can bleed longer than a teacher deprived of salary and benefits can"- especially if the added incentive to LAUSD is the final elimination of unionized and fairly compensated teachers- something they are already implementing with charter schools.

And to exacerbate the situation, sucessive UTLA leadership has made no preparation for a protracted strike nor made any attempt to incorporate the concerns of rank and file teachers into the isolated UTLA House of Representative monthly agenda process that has for years seemed to have more to do with a free meal and socializing than it has for preparing for what UTLA teachers now face - that's one expensive meal.

Add to this the complete failure of UTLA leadership under sucessive regimes to defend falsely targeted teachers- isn't that the raison d'etre of a union in the first place- even though it clearly has the authority to do so under Article V of the LAUSD-UTLA Collective Bargaining Agreement- and you have the uncontradicted belief among LAUSD leadership that UTLA will ultimately fold in any strike. Simply stated, LAUSD believes it can offer anything it wants to a UTLA that has done absolutely nothing to stand up for rank and file in years.

If you or someone you know has been targeted and are in the process of being dismissed and need legal defense, get in touch:

Lenny@perdaily.com

Blogs We Love

Do you find the media and their "teachers-suck," "power to principals," "privatization is the best thing that's happened to public schools" disgusting and distasteful? The powers that be may "control" the main media but it's people like us who control the SOCIAL MEDIA. Hungry for more information about crusading educators going against the grain to do what's right for teachers, unions, communities, and children? Check out some more blogs below:

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LAUSD- THE BUCK STOPS WHERE? AND WHEN?tag:www.perdaily.com,2015://1.7602015-02-24T05:37:59Z2015-02-27T01:25:22Z(Mensaje se repite en Español)
It has been a little over 5 years since I wrote a blog about how then Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Superintendent Ramon Cortines was going to get rid of "weak teachers," which he and his subsequent replacement- and now predecessor- John Deasy have had more than enough time to accomplish. And yet, even though the ranks of these "expensive" and supposedly "weak teachers" have been decimated by approximately 14,000 teachers, things are no better at LAUSD- in fact they continue to get worse.
Might it just be that the problem never was the teachers, but rather an entrenched and incestuous bureaucracy, where questioning clearly failed policy continues to be something that can get you fired as an administrator. In other words, do what you are told, no matter how stupid you think it is.Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

It has been a little over 5 years since I wrote a blog about how then Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Superintendent Ramon Cortines was going to get rid of "weak teachers," which he and his subsequent replacement- and now predecessor- John Deasy have had more than enough time to accomplish. And yet, even though the ranks of these "expensive" and supposedly "weak teachers" have been decimated by approximately 14,000 teachers, things are no better at LAUSD- in fact they continue to get worse.

Might it just be that the problem never was the teachers, but rather an entrenched and incestuous bureaucracy, where questioning clearly failed policy continues to be something that can get you fired as an administrator. In other words, do what you are told, no matter how stupid you think it is.

There is no better case in point than Cortines himself, the supposed indespensible grand old man of public education reform, who after 50 years of service can point to no prior school district where he has ever worked that is any better off today than it was when he started.

But as the years go by and LAUSD continues to fail, we are supposed to believe that the teacher-subordinates are exclusively responsible for LAUSD's continued failure and not those administrators who are actually calling the shots.

Fiascos like the recent iPad, MiSiS, and construction scandals, where teachers had no part in the decision making process, are allowed to go by the wayside with no consequences for those who made and continue to make these ill-advised administrative decisions.

And when, for example, an LAUSD board member like Tamar Galatzan was questioned as to how this could happen on her watch with Galatzan's proactive support for Deasy's clearly failed policies, Ms. Galatzan had the nerve to claim ignorance, when it came to the financial ramifications of the recent iPad scandal. So if the LAUSD Board doesn't know anything, who does?

And yet teachers who are working under the most impossible conditions where they have gotten no support from administration find themselves blamed and targeted for removal, if they dare to voice an objection or can be replaced by a cheaper novice teacher.

Teachers and their union United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) are now told that there is no money to come up with a reasonable pay raise for them, after they have gone ages without even a cost of living increase- let alone a real raise.

Superintendent Cortines now pleads poverty and a $160 million deficit. Could at least part of that deficit be due to a Miramonte settlement that cost the District a combined $169 million to pay people off and assure that the predictably failed administrative policies that allowed this to happen never see the light of day?

While there is no excuse for this level of administrative incompetence at LAUSD, probably the best explanation as to why it continues is the premeditated failure of both the mainstream and public media reporters to expose it for fear of losing their own jobs- but that's another story.

If you or someone you know has been targeted and are in the process of being dismissed and need legal defense, get in touch:

Lenny@perdaily.com

Blogs We Love

Do you find the media and their "teachers-suck," "power to principals," "privatization is the best thing that's happened to public schools" disgusting and distasteful? The powers that be may "control" the main media but it's people like us who control the SOCIAL MEDIA. Hungry for more information about crusading educators going against the grain to do what's right for teachers, unions, communities, and children? Check out some more blogs below:

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IF FAILED TEACHERS ARE FIRED, WHY ARE FAILED LAUSD INCUMBENTS RE-ELECTED?tag:www.perdaily.com,2015://1.7582015-02-11T22:41:17Z2015-02-12T07:57:58Z(Mensaje se repite en Español)
In the upcoming Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) board elections, I have a novel suggestion for anybody who is sick and tired of the consistent failure of LAUSD incumbent board members to address endemic corruption in both financial (iPad, MiSiS, inflated construction contract scandals) and pedagogic practices (fixed assessments, social promotion, and epidemic levels of truancy) that continue to fail the vast majority of the 90% Latino and Black student body of LAUSD and their parents.
To echo this failed board's own rhetoric in establishing a standard for going after and getting rid of "bad teachers," (who just happen to be at the top of the salary scale- isn't that really why they are "bad"), why don't you go to the polls on March 3rd and get rid of some really bad LAUSD board members. Vote for anybody else except the incumbent. At the very least, you will ensure a runoff between the incumbent, who has an enormous advantage from the gitgo, and at least one of those challenging these go-along-to-get-along incumbents, who after multiple terms in office or as part of the LAUSD entrenched bureaucracy, have nothing objectively verifiable to show any improvement, while usually standing in the way of anybody trying to make things better in the school district that time seems to have forgotten.Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

In the upcoming Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) board elections, I have a novel suggestion for anybody who is sick and tired of the consistent failure of LAUSD incumbent board members to address endemic corruption in both financial (iPad, MiSiS, inflated construction contract scandals) and pedagogic practices (fixed assessments, social promotion, and epidemic levels of truancy) that continue to fail the vast majority of the 90% Latino and Black student body of LAUSD and their parents.

To echo this failed board's own rhetoric in establishing a standard for going after and getting rid of "bad teachers," (who just happen to be at the top of the salary scale- isn't that really why they are "bad"), why don't you go to the polls on March 3rd and get rid of some really bad LAUSD board members. Vote for anybody else except the incumbent. At the very least, you will ensure a runoff between the incumbent, who has an enormous advantage from the gitgo, and at least one of those challenging these go-along-to-get-along incumbents, who after multiple terms in office or as part of the LAUSD entrenched bureaucracy, have nothing objectively verifiable to show any improvement, while usually standing in the way of anybody trying to make things better in the school district that time seems to have forgotten.

If one just looks at the lukewarm endorsements of the encumbents by the Los Angeles Times, you will realize that you couldn't possibly do any worse by voting for a challenger, so that at the very least somebody before the runoff might actually come up with a clearly stated platform and program for its implementation that is something more than worn out platitudes like, "No child left behind" or "life-long learners" or "everybody is going to college," in a country where the total capacity of all colleges and universities is 30% of all high school graduates. Realistically, what is everybody else supposed to do in an LAUSD that continues to close down industrial arts and other viable educational alternatives that have been consistently blocked by these entrenched board members and the vested vendor interests they continue to serve in conflict with what should be their fiduciary duty to LAUSD.

In endorsing the encumbents, the best the L.A. Times can say about District 5 Board Member Bennett Kayser is that he is "easily the weakest of the three contenders." When it comes to District 7: Richard Vladovic. the Times says, "As president of the school board, Vladovic has not been the leader we had hoped he would be." Or District 3 Tamar Galatzan, where the Times says, "This endorsement comes with misgivings". All these folks have only served as a rubber stamp for policies of an entrenched bureaucracy at LAUSD that sees change as anathma to their perks and priviliges.

The biggest factor that has kept these folks in power is a voter apathy that saw 18% show up in the last LAUSD board election to fill the late Margaritte La Motte's seat. And as if that wasn't bad enough, only 8% showed up to give 30 year veteran McKenna victory over his opponent Johnson in a race that had no platform stated and no specifics as to how change was going to be achieved. In all likelihood McKenna won because of his notoriety from a film made by Denzel Washington about Washington Prep, which today is no better off than when McKenna went there in the first place.

In examining just two of the candidates running against Tamar Galatzan in District 3 who continues to avoid public forums, where she might be asked her specific actions and how she went from supporting ex-LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy to the point of increasing his contract by two years to subsequently going along with his resignation 8 months later. She seems to want to avoid being ask, "What changed Tamar?"

One of her worthy opponents in District 3 is Scott Schmerelson, a likable retired principal who oversaw improvements at the low-performing Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. Middle School. The Times faults this seasoned Spanish teacher on not as yet being able to come up with policy. But I ask you, has he had a chance in a district where what the LAUSD Board deals with remains a secret that people who deal with it even have to sign non-disclosure agreements, when no individual's privacy is at stake. And let's face it, Ms. Galatzan hasn't come up with much policy, unless you consider her unquestionally going along with Deasy's iPad fiasco with bond money or attacking Stuart McGruder on the bond oversight committee as policy, when he dared to question what was going on and why Pearson and Apple had a two-year headstart in the process? Galatzan's comment about McGruder, "He had no business questioning" Wasn't that his only business?

Schmerelson believes that "funding needs to go directly to the classroom." He also thinks that "classrooms of 42-45 students are antithetical to the education process. Where I found him naive was in his belief that he could learn from other board members, whose only example is rubber stamping what is put in front of them, instead of the independent oversight function that any viable board should serve.

Another candidate for District 3 is Carl Petersen, who clearly understands that Galatazan "doesn't pay attention to her constituency, " but rather has no problem getting lost in her iPad during public comments at the board meetings- clearly, her mind is already made up and she's just going through the motions.

Petersen got into this because of a personal interest in special needs students who the district continues to either ignore or underserve. In Petersen's systematic approach to this issue, he has shown a rational approach that can easily be translated into other areas where the district and more specifically the LAUSD Board have consistently missed the boat.

Whether it's viable alternatives to college careers or "classes structured for STEM, but not interest, Petersen clearly understands that the district's top/down model has no place for individual needs in a system where there is never an "independent justification" for what the board does and why.

In the recent Indian elections, 67% of the electorate showed up at the polls and gave the Congress Party that has been ruling India since 1948 it's biggest defeat. All demographics- age, gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic standard- voted against what has become the corruption of India politics. If the Indians can finally clean house, cleaning up LAUSD shouldn't be that hard. All one has to do is overcome your apathy and vote on March 3rd. In so doing we might just light a fire under some candidates that will finally vie for a place on the LAUSD Board that puts the constituency's needs before their own ambitions.

If you or someone you know has been targeted and are in the process of being dismissed and need legal defense, get in touch:

Lenny@perdaily.com

Blogs We Love

Do you find the media and their "teachers-suck," "power to principals," "privatization is the best thing that's happened to public schools" disgusting and distasteful? The powers that be may "control" the main media but it's people like us who control the SOCIAL MEDIA. Hungry for more information about crusading educators going against the grain to do what's right for teachers, unions, communities, and children? Check out some more blogs below:

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ACCELERATED CHARTER IS LOOKING FOR A CALCULUS TEACHERtag:www.perdaily.com,2015://1.7572015-02-05T00:19:32Z2015-02-08T14:29:24ZIf you are a credentialed Math teacher who has been having a hard time finding employment for any reason, you might try contacting Accelerated Charter principal Marcus Wilhite who is looking for a Calculus teacher.
He can be reached at:
Accelerated Charter,
4000 South Main Street,
Los Angeles, CA -
(323) 235-6343Leonard IsenbergIf you are a credentialed Math teacher who has been having a hard time finding employment for any reason, you might try contacting Accelerated Charter principal Marcus Wilhite who is looking for a Calculus teacher.

He can be reached at:

Accelerated Charter

4000 South Main Street

Los Angeles, CA

(323) 235-6343

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LATINO HIGHER EDUCATION- REALITY OR MERE RHETORIC?tag:www.perdaily.com,2015://1.7562015-02-03T17:33:21Z2015-02-03T18:54:17Z(Mensaje se repite en Español)
In the midst of an endless barrage of belated education reform proposals coming from Governor Brown, President Obama, and elsewhere that are purportedly designed to improve what has become an abysmal public education system, does anybody really want minority- and more specifically Latino- children to finally achieve their academic potential? If they actually did, those devising public education policy might try doing something different that has already proven to work well everywhere else in the world where it has been implemented.
With recent studies showing that the bilingual brain is significantly more capable of assimilating more information in any subject than a monolingual brain, one must wonder why America still clings to a monolingual system of public education, where Spanish and other foreign languages are still treated like diseases that young students must be cured of, instead of potential assets to be nurtured as a culturally given advantage that all students might profit from.Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

In the midst of an endless barrage of
belated education reform proposals coming from Governor Brown, President Obama, and elsewhere that are purportedly designed to
improve what has become an abysmal public education system, regrettably one might still ask if anybody really wants minority- and more specifically Latino- children
to finally achieve their academic potential? If they actually did,
those devising public education policy might try doing something
different that has already proven to work well everywhere else in the
world where it has been implemented.

With recent studies showing that the
bilingual brain is significantly more capable of assimilating more
information in any subject than a monolingual brain, one must wonder
why America still clings to a monolingual system of public education,
where Spanish and other foreign languages are still treated like
diseases that young students must be cured of, instead of potential
assets to be nurtured as a culturally given advantage that all
students and this country might profit from.

Still ignoring the fact that all
students have a two-year foreign language requirement for university
admission, districts like the Los Angeles Unified School District
(LAUSD) steadfastly refuse to implement the teaching of a
foreign language before high school, even when all research and the
experience of all countries with multilingual education systems
around the world show that a significantly earlier teaching of
foreign languages is much more effective in maintaining or
establishing foreign and native language fluency, if given at a time
prior to puberty, when human brains find it much easier to assimilate
new languages. Simply stated, literacy in any language drives
increased fluency in all other languages and unrelated subjects that
a student is intelligently exposed to.

Is there any rational reason why, at
the very least, the teaching of a foreign language is not commenced
in middle school as opposed to waiting until high school?

It is worth mentioning that a country
like the Philippines has a highly educated bilingual population that
is equally fluent in Tagalog (or other native language) and English. A smart society in a multilingual world doesn't force its
population to choose between languages, since it knows there is
literally no downside to being multilingual.

Given a present dysfunctional public education reality in the United
States, what you might find astounding is that it was American
missionary educators after the Spanish-American War at the turn of the last
century that went into the newly conquered Philippines and instituted
this leading edge bilingual system of education still used in the
Philippines, where all school classes might be given in either
English or Tagalog. What is achieved is perfect fluency in both
languages and in all subjects, since literacy in one language
naturally drives literacy in the others.

It also needs to be noted that there
are more ways than one to skin a monolingual cat. In Sweden during
the 1960s, Sweden brought in guest workers from India. To assure
their social integration, the Swedish government at great initial
expense, taught these workers their native Hindi language, before attempting
to teach them Swedish- and the English that all Swede learn from an
early age in school. What has resulted is a perfectly integrated initially foreign population of Swedish citizens. And for a profound long term benefit, people well integrated into society do not become a burden on the social welfare and criminal justice system.

The first step in turning a more viable
method of language acquisition loose in American public education
is to understand why there has been such hostility to the maintenance or
acquisition of any other language besides English. When this country
was founded, it was to a great extent as a safe haven for people
escaping from endless European wars- a reprise of which we are
presently seeing in the Ukraine. Since the main component of these
cultural conflicts was linguistic and cultural differences, America
chose to make the speaking of English and the giving up of other then
divisive languages- that had lead to war in Europe and elsewhere- as
the price of social integration into this country.

Although those days are clearly over,
what remains are still entrenched attitudes that see the exclusive
speaking of English as the only true measure of social integration.
Most native Americans seem to think that since their ancestors had to
give up their native languages, Latinos and others should also be
required to do so. I've got news for you, they're not going to.

What is rarely asked is whether the
older Americans loss of their native languages and cultures was
really necessary and beneficial to their effective social integration
in this country. All Danes are completely bilingual with English, which has in no
way threatened their social stability- rather it has increased it.

Ironically, the reality of American
disproportionate cultural and economic success around the world has
always owed a great deal to the melding of American culture with the
never ending stream of new immigrant cultures and their unique and
different ways of creating an always redefining synthesis of what
it is to be an American.This
continued healthy evolution has allowed us to remain viable, where
other societies have failed.

And yet both native born Americans and
many lower socio-economic immigrants continue to circle the wagons
out of fear around their respective monolingual visions of America
that either speak only English or see the loss of Spanish as
something they must defend against in rigidly monolingual societies
that refuse to make room for any language that might serve to alter
their limited view of life.

When you learn another language you not
only develop the ability to communicate with other people, you also
develop the fluency to see life the way those who speak that language see by understanding the subjective value they give to words in
their language. Ultimately, that which is expressed best in each
idiom comes into the common usage of all Americans. I'm hard pressed
to see any downside.

Try discussing this subject with a
Scandinavian, Indian, Filipino, or one of the 150 million Chinese who
are presently learning native level English.

If you or someone you know has been targeted and are in the process of being dismissed and need legal defense, get in touch:

Lenny@perdaily.com

Blogs We Love

Do you find the media and their "teachers-suck," "power to principals," "privatization is the best thing that's happened to public schools" disgusting and distasteful? The powers that be may "control" the main media but it's people like us who control the SOCIAL MEDIA. Hungry for more information about crusading educators going against the grain to do what's right for teachers, unions, communities, and children? Check out some more blogs below:

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WERE YOU TERMINATED OR FORCED TO RETIRE FROM LAUSD BASED ON FABRICATED CHARGES?tag:www.perdaily.com,2015://1.7522015-01-19T17:15:48Z2015-01-18T22:08:41ZFor at least the last 8 years, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) administrative leadership has systematically targeted teachers at the top of the salary scale, and/or about to vest in lifetime health benefits, and/or disabled, because it is able to save very significant money in combined salary and benefits in just the first year when it forces these high seniority teachers out of their profession in favor of a fresh out of college Teach for America type "teachers" who are hired to replace them on an emergency credential at much lower pay and significantly less benefits.
These senior teacher "financial liabilities" to LAUSD are targeted for removal based on fabricated evidence and directed testimony from students and others who are told what to say to support the case for removing these expensive albeit innocent teachers.
By adding a morals charge under California Education Code 44939, which is done in most cases, LAUSD administrators are further able to leapfrog over all of the teachers' union collective bargaining rights of the targeted teacher to grievance and arbitration, which is why so many of these targeted teachers are hit with defamatory false allegations of immoral conduct.
Although no "verification" of these charges with statements made under penalty of perjury as is required by law is ever part of these charges, the LAUSD Board has admitted that it continues to vote to dismiss these teachers.
I know firsthand of the suffering and unfair treatment experienced by so many at the hands of LAUSD administrators because I was a targeted teacher. I have been in "teacher jail." This is why I am reaching out to all current teachers who are being targeted and former teachers who have been forced out of their jobs, out of their life careers, under these dubious circumstances.
If you, like me, are a victim of these reprehensible practices and would like to have your voice back and be heard, please contact me. I am interested in bringing us all together in a lawsuit to bring it to an end.
Lenny@perdaily.com or
Leonard.Isenberg@gmail.com
phone 323.938.1258 cell 323.383.7805Leonard Isenberg

For at least the last 8 years, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) administrative leadership has systematically targeted teachers at the top of the salary scale, and/or about to vest in lifetime health benefits, and/or disabled, because it is able to save very significant money in combined salary and benefits in just the first year when it forces these high seniority teachers out of their profession in favor of a fresh out of college Teach for America type "teachers" who are hired to replace them on an emergency credential at much lower pay and significantly less benefits.

These senior teacher "financial liabilities" to LAUSD are targeted for removal based on fabricated evidence and directed testimony from students and others who are told what to say to support the case for removing these expensive albeit innocent teachers.

By adding a morals charge under California Education Code 44939, which is done in most cases, LAUSD administrators are further able to leapfrog over all of the teachers' union collective bargaining rights of the targeted teacher to grievance and arbitration, which is why so many of these targeted teachers are hit with defamatory false allegations of immoral conduct.

Although no "verification" of these charges with statements made under penalty of perjury as is required by law is ever part of these charges, the LAUSD Board has admitted that it continues to vote to dismiss these teachers.

I know firsthand of the suffering and unfair treatment experienced by so many at the hands of LAUSD administrators because I was a targeted teacher. I have been in "teacher jail." This is why I am reaching out to all current teachers who are being targeted and former teachers who have been forced out of their jobs, out of their life careers, under these dubious circumstances. If you, like me, are a victim of these reprehensible practices and would like to have your voice back and be heard, please contact me. I am interested in bringing us all together in a lawsuit to bring it to an end.

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URGENT WANTED REPORTS OF OFFICIAL ABUSE OF POWER IN LOS ANGELEStag:www.perdaily.com,2015://1.7552015-01-19T05:52:07Z2015-01-23T06:05:05Z(Mensaje se repite en Español)
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN THREATENED WITH ARREST FOR SPEAKING OUT ON PUBLIC ISSUES AT A SCHOOL BOARD OR CITY MEETING?
HAVE YOU BEEN SUBJECTED TO PUBLIC HUMILIATION BY ELECTED OFFICIALS AT PUBLIC MEETINGS? IF SO, BY WHOM?
WERE YOU EVER EJECTED FROM A PUBLIC MEETING FOR SPEAKING OUT OR ATTEMPTING TO TAPE RECORD THESE PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS?
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN DEPRIVED OF YOUR BASIC RIGHTS TO DEFEND YOURSELF, YOUR FAMILY AND YOUR COMMUNITY AT A PUBLIC FORUM?
WE NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU
PLEASE CALL LEONARD ISENBERG AT 323.938.1258 OR EMAIL ME AT LENNY@PERDAILY.COM
WE ARE DOCUMENTING THE ABUSE OF GOVERNMENT POWER IN LOS ANGELES, FOR A COMPREHENSIVE REPORT OF WHAT IS
HAPPENING HERE IN THE CITY OF LOS ANGELES WE NEED YOUR REPORTS OF RETALIATION AND ABUSE.Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN THREATENED WITH ARREST FOR SPEAKING OUT ON PUBLIC ISSUES AT A SCHOOL BOARD OR CITY MEETING?

HAVE YOU BEEN SUBJECTED TO PUBLIC HUMILIATION BY ELECTED OFFICIALS AT PUBLIC MEETINGS? IF SO, BY WHOM?

WERE YOU EVER EJECTED FROM A PUBLIC MEETING FOR SPEAKING OUT OR ATTEMPTING TO TAPE RECORD THESE PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS?

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN DEPRIVED OF YOUR BASIC RIGHTS TO DEFEND YOURSELF, YOUR FAMILY AND YOUR COMMUNITY AT A PUBLIC FORUM?

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TUITION FREE COMMUNITY COLLEGE- TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?tag:www.perdaily.com,2015://1.7532015-01-09T22:40:33Z2015-02-25T06:37:44Z(Mensaje se repite en Español)
Two separate proposals- one by President Obama and one by Governor Brown in the California state budget- that appear to strength both state and federal government commitment to post K-12 public education fail to address a critical factor that might make the increased money that they seek to make available for post secondary education a complete and utter waste for state and federal taxpayers and- more specifically- students, if a major oversight prerequisite for their effective implementation is not first put in place.
That prerequisite must be an entity with the independent power and authority to monitor and reform the longstanding dismal performance of school districts like the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), where students continue to be allowed to pass through their K-12 education without attaining the fundamental English language and math skills that they would need to successfully take advantage of college or university. In short, without reform the only thing that is likely to be accomplished is to extend K12 to equally dismal K14.Leonard Isenberg(Mensaje se repite en Español)

Two separate proposals- one by President Obama and one by Governor Brown in the California state budget- that appear to strengthen both state and federal government commitment to post K-12 public education fail to address a critical factor that might make the increased money that they seek to make available for post secondary education a complete and utter waste for state and federal taxpayers and- more specifically- students; if a major oversight prerequisite for their effective implementation is not first put in place.

That prerequisite must be an entity with the independent power and authority to monitor and reform the longstanding dismal performance of school districts like the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), where students continue to be allowed to pass through their K-12 education without attaining the fundamental English language and math skills that are needed to successfully take advantage of college or university. In short, without reform the only thing that is likely to be accomplished is to extend K-12 to equally dismal K-14.

As long as there is no independent auditing of school districts like LAUSD, they can continue to squander any amount of money given. Just look at the recent iPad scandal, where LAUSD spent $1.3 billion on devices that presuppose English and math literacy skills not possessed by the vast majority of LAUSD students.

At the same time, the ranks of seasoned well-trained teachers continues to be decimated in fulfillment of a narrow and unquestioned LAUSD administrative implemented policy of saving money by forcing out these veterans on trumped up charges for the sole purpose of hiring cheap, fresh-out-of-college untrained replacements.

Giving junior colleges and universities more money for free tuition under these circumstances will not even address the critical issue of students' subjective needs in a timely manner at the K-12 level, which is a clear prerequisite for these programs having any chance of succeeding, no matter how much money is thrown at them.

All the money in the world will not improve our junior colleges, colleges and universities, if students continue to be socially promoted through K-12 education without the fundamental skills necessary to do college work. At Los Angeles City College, 70% of entering students irrespective of whether they have passed the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) or been given a highly suspect high school diploma by LAUSD, are unable to pass the LACC basic skills test required upon entry to be allowed to take college level classes and not just remedial courses, which should have already put some city, county, state, or federal regulatory agency on inquiry notices as to why students can not do entry level college work. However LAUSD still claims against all evidence to the contrary that their students are fully qualified high school graduates. This doesn't just happen, rather it has been purposefully allowed to go on for years by those in LAUSD entrenched administration that remain unaccountable.

On KPCC's Airtalk today, Brice Harris, Chancellor of California Community Colleges, pointed out that 75% of the students going to junior college are taking remedial courses as necessary prerequisites to taking subsequent college course work. The vast majority of these students drop out and do not succeed in community colleges, becoming a greater burden on our society when they wind up on welfare or in the criminal justice system at a cost of $50,000 a year. According to Harris, 70% of the students arriving at junior college with mastery of K-12 prior grade-level standards graduate and go on to college or career programs without a hitch. So how hard would it be to finally clear up the K-12 mess that continues to be allowed to fester?

So, while it is admirable that both Obama and Brown want to help American colleges and universities, they must first look at what is- or is not- going on in public K-12, if they want these initiatives to have any chance of success.

It is worth mentioning that Governor Jerry Brown's father, Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, as Governor of California actively believed in subsidizing the cost of higher education. He clearly understood the money it cost the State of California or government in general to lower the cost of college (I paid only $80.50 a quarter in tuition at UCLA in 1969) would come back manifold to both the state and federal tax coffers in the form of higher taxes paid by a highly educated workforce that made us the logical choice in the past for aerospace, computer, and other leading edge technology driven businesses that have given California a GNP right up there with the most successful countries in the world.

There is no reason, but the failure to address corruption and ineffective methodology in K-12, that we cannot turn things around again. And in the process, maybe we lessen the 2.4 million prison population in the U.S. that is 60% African American and Latino. Could that have anything to do with a de facto segregated LAUSD that remains 90% African American and Latino 60 years after Brown vs. Board of Education said this is illegal?

If you or someone you know has been targeted and are in the process of being dismissed and need legal defense, get in touch:

Lenny@perdaily.com

Blogs We Love

Do you find the media and their "teachers-suck," "power to principals," "privatization is the best thing that's happened to public schools" disgusting and distasteful? The powers that be may "control" the main media but it's people like us who control the SOCIAL MEDIA. Hungry for more information about crusading educators going against the grain to do what's right for teachers, unions, communities, and children? Check out some more blogs below:

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FBI INVESTIGATES iPAD SCANDAL- TIME FOR YOU TO CALL THE FBI?tag:www.perdaily.com,2014://1.7272014-12-03T17:55:58Z2014-12-06T04:40:05Z(Mensaje se repite en Español)
The problem with endemic corruption that has existed at LAUSD for years- if not generations- is that it has gone unchallenged and has never been subjected to a truly independent audit of both its financial and other practices in order to finally hold LAUSD and its administration legally accountable for their actions. This has created a bully culture of impunity and unaccountability where those running LAUSD have come to think they can get away with anything. With this mindset LAUSD administration has allowed itself to become rather sloppy in the commission of its various ongoing crimes, so that an FBI federal grand jury investigation, if allowed to go where the evidence takes it, should easily be able to connect the dots to uncover the clear pattern of criminal behavior that heretofore has gone unpunished and often unreported in the media.Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

The problem with endemic corruption that has existed at LAUSD for years- if not generations- is that it has gone unchallenged and has never been subjected to a truly independent audit of both its financial and other practices in order to finally hold LAUSD and its administration legally accountable for their actions. This has created a bully culture of impunity and unaccountability where those running LAUSD have come to think they can get away with anything. With this mindset LAUSD administration has allowed itself to become rather sloppy in the commission of its various ongoing crimes, so that an FBI federal grand jury investigation, if allowed to go where the evidence takes it, should easily be able to connect the dots to uncover the clear pattern of criminal behavior that heretofore has gone unpunished and often unreported in the media.

In aid of finally shinning some cleansing light on LAUSD practices, I would suggest that those of you who read this and have evidence with regard to the iPad scandal or any other actions of questionable legality practiced by LAUSD on a daily basis, take the time to call the FBI at (310) 477-6565 and tell them what you know. According to fellow education blogger Ellen Lubic, this FBI investigation is being headed up by Patricia A. Donahue, who represents the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section of her agency. Will it succeed? As my grandmother used to say, "It couldn't hurt," unless it too has politically imposed limits

For starters, let me tell you what I called and talked about with the FBI today. As many teachers who have also been targeted for removal from their jobs on bogus charges without due process of law know, they have also been hit with allegations of salary overpayment by LAUSD. However, these allegations of salary overpayment never have any documentation of their veracity and LAUSD in my case and others has steadfastly refused to supply any in complete derogation of both state and federal law regulating these matters.

Rather, they have hired a collection agency to collect these false claims of overpayment that can easily be debunked by just looking at your pay stub for the year in question and comparing it to what the LAUSD salary scale says you should have been paid. In most cases, the teacher targeted by LAUSD with having been overpaid will actual find that they have been underpaid. But in no case that I know of has LAUSD responded to multiple requests for substantiation of overpayment claims or shown a willingness to drop them.

At various times in this process over the last four years, LAUSD has claimed that I owe them anywhere from over $9000 to over $13000 without ever offering documentary justification of either amount.

On November 30, 2014, I arrived at four years since I was last paid by LAUSD. I also arrived at the statute of limitations for LAUSD collecting this supposed overpayment from me, even though my accountant says I was in fact significantly underpaid.

So, for argument sake, let's assume that I in fact did owe LAUSD for overpayment. Why would they have allowed the statute of limitations to run on this debt I supposedly have to LAUSD? Isn't this negligence per se on the part of those LAUSD employees charged with collecting it who now have allowed the statute of limitations to run? And isn't it also malpractice by those LAUSD lawyers involved in this affair?

What is a better explanation as to why they allowed the statute of limitations to run is that they know I fight back with lawyers, while most teachers already deprived of salary and benefits have neither the money or energy left to do anything but take out a check book and pay a "debt" they all know is invalid.

Now, for argument sake, let's assume that I- and most of the other alleged overpayment targeted teachers never did owe LAUSD any money. Could it be that LAUSD administration just saw this as yet another way- along with going after teachers at the top of the salary scale- to lessen an LAUSD budget that is constantly being pushed into the red by LAUSD administrative ineptitude, e.g. $169 million Miramonte settlement, iPad scandal, Belmont and Ambassador Hotel toxic waste dump and over-budget scandals, and fixing attendance figures, grades, and assessments.

Again, assuming that LAUSD administration had any belief in teachers actually having been overpaid, wouldn't they have been required to file an amended W-2 with the IRS?

It's long past time for the chickens to come home to roost at LAUSD. Any chicken pluckers out there?

If you or someone you know has been targeted and are in the process of being dismissed and need legal defense, get in touch:

Lenny@perdaily.com

Blogs We Love

Do you find the media and their "teachers-suck," "power to principals," "privatization is the best thing that's happened to public schools" disgusting and distasteful? The powers that be may "control" the main media but it's people like us who control the SOCIAL MEDIA. Hungry for more information about crusading educators going against the grain to do what's right for teachers, unions, communities, and children? Check out some more blogs below:

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KEVIN COSTNER'S BLACK OR WHITE- BEST OF BOTH WORLDStag:www.perdaily.com,2014://1.7492014-12-03T06:11:38Z2014-12-08T19:33:54Z(Mensaje se repite en Español)
In a screening followed by a Q & A with Kevin Costner of his latest film Black or White at the Aero Theater America Cinematheque in Santa Monica, Mr. Costner not only gave us a most valuable clue to good movie making, he also suggested what might just be a timely solution in dealing with the neverending story of virulent racism. In a Hollywood driven more than ever by profit and not content Kevin Costner now the producer with his money on the line has chosen to "make the five or six movies that he shouldn't." If Black or White is any indication, one can only hope he continue down this less trodden path that will inspire others to realize that a good story might just be more important that special effects.Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

In a screening followed by a Q & A with Kevin Costner of his latest film Black or White at the Aero Theater America Cinematheque in Santa Monica, Mr. Costner not only gave us a most valuable clue to good movie making, he also suggested what might just be a timely solution in dealing with the neverending story of virulent racism. In a Hollywood driven more than ever by profit and not content Kevin Costner now the producer with his money on the line has chosen to "make the five or six movies that he shouldn't." If Black or White is any indication, one can only hope he continue down this less trodden path that will inspire others to realize that a good story might just be more important that special effects.

Like the equally infectious and deadly Ebola, the American strain of racism that Black or White focuses on continues to break out around the country with a staggering disproportionate destruction of male African American lives for their sole "crime" of having been continuously marginalized by an American society. This insanity is all the more incomprehensible when one realizes it is actually much less financially and emotionally expensive for our society to finally negotiate the issues that Black and White addresses.

What Black or White masterfully shows through an old Hollywood styled collaboration of first-time writer-director Mike Binder and actor-producer Costner is an unflinching yet comprehensible view of racism on both sides of the racial divide that continues to unnecessarily plague this country, because of the stubborn egos of all involved, who continue to mindlessly line up against each other like Dodger fans against a San Franciscian whose sole crime was being for the Giants.

In what I think is one of the best performances that Costner has given during his long career, his character the ultra success and yet flawed L.A. lawyer Elliott Anderson shows a richness that only comes from continuing to hone his acting craft, when the temptation of many other stars has been to play it safe to the point of becoming caricatures of themselves.

The clear battle lines around which the movie centers have to do with how and by whom the mixed racial granddaughter, who Costner's character of Elliott and his recently deceased wife have raised up until now, and her in-your-face Black grandmother Rowena played to a tee by Octavia Spencer. What follows is a confrontation with the Black side of the family that feels Elliott is trying to exclude this component in his granddaughter identity for racist reasons.

Along the way we are treated to both comic relief and an alternative vision of what could have been Black America without racism depicted through the character of Duvan (Mpho Koaho), brought on to tutor the granddaughter and drive for Elliott when he is too drunk to do so for himself. Yes, everybody in this film has flaws, with the hysterical exception of Duvan, who undoubtedly has already written an insightful paper on any of the problems the film addresses in one of the nine languages he has mastered at the ripe old age of nineteen.

In echoing the words of Costner's character Elliot, "What we all see when we first look at each other is black or white" or the superficial functional equivalent. What this film asks us to do is look "a second, third, and fourth time" or until we understand that truth is not black or white.

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CAUTION! READING THIS MIGHT JUST GIVE YOU HIGH BLOOD PRESSUREtag:www.perdaily.com,2014://1.7502014-12-03T03:33:07Z2014-12-10T06:51:31ZIn the continuing war over Obamacare in this country, what seems lost in the debate is any discussion of just how good or bad the present American medical system really is in comparison to single-payer state run systems of healthcare in virtually every other industrialized country in the world.
We are 27th in the world in infant mortality and a dispassionate examination of how healthcare is dispensed in America makes it clear that the profits of insurance companies that take 34% of every dollar spent on healthcare take precedence over what should be a patient centered practice of medicine. It is worth mentioning that this cost of administration is 3% in Canada for the same function and comparably low in other nationally administered medical systems around the world.Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

In the continuing war over Obamacare in this country, what seems lost in the debate is any discussion of just how good or bad the present American medical system really is in comparison to single-payer state run systems of healthcare in virtually every other industrialized country in the world.

We are 27th in the world in infant mortality and a dispassionate examination of how healthcare is dispensed in America makes it clear that the profits of insurance companies that take 34% of every dollar spent on healthcare take precedence over what should be a patient centered practice of medicine. It is worth mentioning that this cost of administration is 3% in Canada for the same function and comparably low in other nationally administered medical systems around the world.

In China, there are eight separate classifications of medical practitioners who are sanctioned to perform medical procedures of varying difficulty to avoid the bottleneck that has become emblematic of American healthcare, where even a shot cannot be administer by a nurse, unless a doctor is present- or at least that's what my doctors tell me.

All this centralization of exclusive authority in doctors would be justified if by any objective measure the U.S. did not continue to give mediocre healthcare at a highly inflated cost, where the financial health of the insurance companies seems to take precedence over the patient.

The people dependent upon this health care system for services or the doctors trying to work within it are objectively unable to receive or practice anything even remotely resembling good healthcare, given the volume of patients treated. Doctors don't have the time to really know who these people are and what their subjective medical needs might be. Its a wonder it functions at all.

To illustrate this, let me tell you the story of "Jimmy" (real name not given to respect privacy), who has been a patient for many years at Cedars-Sinai Health Associates, a large HMO in Los Angeles. In the last four years Jimmy has had five primary care physicians who operate as gatekeepers that he must see before he can access any specialist. While this seems initially justified to meter out expensive services, in practice it is designed by the insurance mentality to delay and hopefully avoid the cost of treatment as long as possible. Often in the end this winds up costing the system more, because the cost of illness not dealt with in a timely manner dwarfs the cost of what might have been treatable and far less expensive, if dealt with in a timely manner.

Five years ago, when Jimmy arrived for his annual physical on his bicycle in order to get the good exercise the then 62 year old Jimmy needed to stay fit and healthy, he was told that he needed to be put on blood pressure medication, because his blood pressure- after bicycling several miles to the appointment was 136/74- not really high.

Did the doctor running this healthcare assembly line that sees four patients or more per hour have either the time or the inclination to actually do a work up to understand what was causing Jimmy's blood pressure to be moderately elevated? No. Did the doctor offer alternatives involving diet modification, stress reduction, or increased exercise that might have had the ability to lower Jimmy's blood pressure without medication? No.

But most importantly, did the doctor tell Jimmy of the profound side effects caused by Amlodipine (Norvasc) that include impotence? No. In retrospect, what Jimmy thought about this doctor, who didn't know him, and the four others that followed in quick succession over the next four years, was that the doctors were young, inexperienced, and had preconceived notions as to "old people" as a group.

One must assume the transient nature of many primary care physicians is because they are fresh out of residency and the insurance companies running the HMO can pay them significantly less. The other doctor demographic that seems disproportionately represented in HMO care are older doctors at the end of their careers, who often do not work five days a week.

After Jimmy's recent annual physical, he received a written message on a hospital app from his primary care physician- who he subsequently learned was also quitting his job. The message tersely said with no explanation, "You have 'chronic kidney disease.' Cold and impersonal? After calling his doctor in a panic, Jimmy learned the "medical translation" of his "chronic kidney disease" was merely that 75% of people over 65 have somewhat diminished kidney function, which, if the doctor had the time to explain it, would have been less frightening to Jimmy or any other patient. Clearly, doctors in HMO practice don't seem to have the time for such appropriate medical care and communication between doctor and patient- standard of care?

That was the last straw for Jimmy. He decided to take a holistic approach to his own health care, since it had finally become clear to him that he couldn't depend on his doctor or the exclusively profit driven insurance and pharmaceutical healthcare industry, where treatment and use of medication was seen merely as a lifetime revenue flows for a corporate bottom line.

In the last two months, Jimmy has lost 10 lbs. He changed his diet to eliminate high caloric food, sugar, and fat intake with mini-forays into forbidden foods once a week. He joined a gym where he swims 40 laps at least 3 days a week. And he now leaves his car in the driveway in favor of his bicycle most days of the week- given the traffic it's not much of a sacrifice. And of course, he monitors his blood pressure on a daily basis, which hovers at 120/75 or below. But what puts the biggest smile on Jimmy and his wife's faces is that a certain side effect of Amlodipin is no longer there, because he's off all medication.

In the final analysis, the healthcare system we have reflects our general unwillingness to take responsibility for our own health and prefer to take drugs that mask what is wrong, instead of addressing it with admittedly not easy modifications of our excessive lifestyles. The financial and human cost of this foolishness is a price we could stop paying, if we show a greater willingness to take responsibility for our own health.

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MIRAMONTE SETTLEMENT BLOCKS ANY LAUSD DISCLOSURE- THE CRIMINALITY GOES ONtag:www.perdaily.com,2014://1.7452014-11-22T17:29:44Z2014-11-23T09:16:41Z(Mensaje se repite en Español)
With the 11th hour settlements just prior to when the civil trial was scheduled to commence, the combined costs of the Miramonte sexual abuse scandal cases now totals $169 million, making it the largest school child abuse award of damages in history. And yet the clearly failed LAUSD administrative mechanism that allowed it to happen- or happen again in the future- remains intact in an LAUSD that is still immune from any outside investigation that this civil trial would surely have provided.
The clearly dishonest motivation for LAUSD settling this case on the eve of trial is given strength and credibility by the realization that the plaintiffs couldn't have possibly gotten more money at trial than they got with this settlement, which is usually a defendant's motivation for settling. So what remains is the disreputable motive of covering up an LAUSD administrative culture that will continue to silence and cover up similar bad acts that continue unchecked throughout the District at this time. After all, those doing the covering up have yet to pay any price out of their pockets.Leonard Isenberg(Mensaje se repite en Español)

With the 11th hour settlements just prior to when the civil trial was scheduled to commence, the combined costs of the Miramonte sexual abuse scandal cases now totals $169 million, making it the largest school child abuse award of damages in history. And yet the clearly failed LAUSD administrative mechanism that allowed it to happen- or happen again in the future- remains intact in an LAUSD that is still immune from any outside investigation that this civil trial would surely have provided.

The clearly dishonest motivation for LAUSD settling this case on the eve of trial is given strength and credibility by the realization that the plaintiffs couldn't have possibly gotten more money at trial than they got with this settlement, which is usually a defendant's motivation for settling. So what remains is the disreputable motive of covering up an LAUSD administrative culture that will continue to silence and cover up similar bad acts that continue unchecked throughout the District at this time. After all, those doing the covering up have yet to pay any price out of their pockets.

In one such prior undisclosed case, an LAUSD vice principal was having an ongoing sexual relation with one of his under-aged female students. With what has become standard operating procedure at LAUSD, the VP was transferred unpunished to yet another school...where he proceeded to do the same thing with yet another under-aged female.

The Miramonte case might have put this LAUSD administrative culture under scrutiny by showing it in a whole new light, where they have facilitated covering up such outrageous sexual behavior. Last weeks statements by 27 year LAUSD outside legal counsel veteran W. Keith Wyatt that puts the legally presume statutory rape victim of sexual abuse on trial is just one aspect of LAUSD administrative culture where covering each others habitually exposed backsides is always job one- student or teacher welfare be damned.

This is not "failure to take action" as alleged in these present Miramonte civil cases, but rather a culture where the hiding of "misconduct complaints" against bad apples like Mark Berndt is standard operation procedure for LAUSD administration.

Talk about the fox guarding the chicken coup. To have yet again recycled 82 year old sexual harasser Ramon Cortines now involved in the Miramonte case after the District covered up his own sexual misconduct borders on theater of the absurd.

But it's not just LAUSD, everyone seems to have a price. A clearly elated plaintiff's attorney John Manly in the now closed Miramonte case stated, "The settlement was a signal that the district was taking responsibility for its failures," when clear, all LAUSD is doing by the settlement is yet again sweeping this under the carpet, so that it can and will happen again. With the paying of taxpayers money, there is no acceptance of "culpability and contrition" as alleged to by Manly, whose own credibility is brought into question by the 40% contingency fee he will now receive of his client's settlement for just walking away and leaving dysfunctional LAUSD in tact- yes, LAUSD seem to have again dodged the bullet again, which the public was allowed to take.

It is also worth mentioning that "a
high-profile investigative panel formed by Deasy to review abuse at
Miramonte was was shut down before it began its inquiry much earlier on in this case. A District
official [unbelievably] cited lack of funds." No funds for
independent investigation, but 2% of the general fund cost? And yet
nobody seems to have a problem with this? How teflon is LAUSD and its leadership?

Again, the investigations that have
been carried on since Miramonte have had more to do with targeting
and defaming expensive older teachers than actually rooting out the rather statistically small amount of child threatening behavior that is endemic to any
organization that has access to children, e.g. Catholic church. And
like the stellar and expensive prior bad example given by Catholic church administration, LAUSD
still continues to choose to cover up its own malfeasance rather than seek
truly independent investigation and remediation of this clearly
failed system.

Governor Brown's signing into law
earlier this year of a bill designed to make it easier to fire
teachers has only facilitated the complete and utter denial of due
process offered to literally thousands of unjustly targeted tenured teachers
at the top of the salary scale who have been caught up and falsely
defamed in the public hysteria fanned by the media after Miramonte
and other teacher scandals that seem to continuously be metered out by
the media to give continuing cover in LAUSD's illegal war on all teachers whose real goal is the privatization of public education.

It is completely disingenuous for LAUSD
Superintendent Ramon Cortines or Chief Attorney David Holmquist to
say it is their "goal from the outset of these appalling
revelations...to spare the Miramonte community the anguish of a
protracted trial," when there was a police investigation in 1994 of
Berndt that went nowhere. And where many other equally reprehensible
actions in the past have been quelled by principals and other LAUSD administrators, which is clearly why Mark Berndt and others were allowed
by LAUSD to terrorize children. Maybe LAUSD was just too busy going
after older tenured teachers whose only crime was that they made too much money in a District that needs that money for iPads, Misis, and Miramonte settlements and neverending cleanups.

If you or someone you know has been targeted and are in the process of being dismissed and need legal defense, get in touch:

Lenny@perdaily.com

Blogs We Love

Do you find the media and their "teachers-suck," "power to principals," "privatization is the best thing that's happened to public schools" disgusting and distasteful? The powers that be may "control" the main media but it's people like us who control the SOCIAL MEDIA. Hungry for more information about crusading educators going against the grain to do what's right for teachers, unions, communities, and children? Check out some more blogs below:

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JENNIFER ANISTON'S PROBLEMATIC NEW FILM IS NO PIECE OF "CAKE"tag:www.perdaily.com,2014://1.7462014-11-21T20:54:11Z2014-11-26T05:34:32Z(Mensaje se repite en Español)
After watching Jennifer Aniston's latest film endeavor entitled "Cake," it's clear to me that she is in dire need of a true friend. Somebody who might have had the clout to give her some degree of objectivity in the process of making this movie in a manner that lived up to the clear potential of all involved in its production.
While it is admirable that an already famous, professional, and conscious actress like Aniston would have the guts to step out of her more comfortable comedic actress persona and seek a role without makeup and replete with scars as a chronic pain suffer, who is haunted by the loss of her child and the decimation of her family, Aniston the executive producer- the money person- clearly had nobody involved in this cake making process that had enough control over her and the recipe to actually influence the process of making this film into something other that a completely predictable work where the audience knows within 10 minutes of the film's beginning where it is going and every painful step it will take in getting there.Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

After watching Jennifer Aniston's latest film endeavor entitled "Cake," it's clear to me that she is in dire need of a true friend. Somebody who might have had the clout to give her some degree of objectivity in the process of making this movie in a manner that lived up to the clear potential of all involved in its production.

While it is admirable that an already famous, professional, and conscious actress like Aniston would have the guts to step out of her more comfortable comedic actress persona and seek a role without makeup and replete with scars as a chronic pain suffer, who is haunted by the loss of her child and the decimation of her family, Aniston the executive producer- the money person- clearly had nobody involved in this cake making process that had enough control over her and the recipe to actually influence the process of making this film into something other than a completely predictable work where the audience knows within 10 minutes of the film's beginning where it is going and every painful step it will take in getting there.

The imperative of any good film is some degree of suspense as to what is going to happen, otherwise the audience is well within its right to ask, "What am I doing here?" The only element left undisclosed after the complete spoiler opening is whether or not her character Claire Simmons will actually do herself in. Without much effort, I was able to dispense with consideration of this sole supposed element of "suspense," since it was clear to me that the self-imposed limited trajectory Cake could only rise, if she did not kill herself. Clearly, this predictable happy ending falls flat on its face, when it comes to being enough to sustain a feature film.

It occurs to me that one of the reason that I am so angry at having been subjected to this film is that it is also evident that Aniston's talent as a serious actress is exception, if it is ever possible to get the reins of control away from her in determining what films she makes and the process by which they come to fruition. This is not to say that she should have no say as to what future roles she decides to do are in the rendering. Rather, it gets back to the notion that good film making by necessity is not a democracy or a monarch ruled by a famous person's ego. It needs to have one cook/director with a clear vision that drives all other elements of the film making process.

Another recent film release, The Theory of Everything, about the more than equally challenging life of Stephen Hawking faced the same potential pitfalls of appealing to the audiences voyeuristic tendencies for watching somebody else suffer for two hours. Thankfully, it choose not to and rather achieved a uniqueness that only comes when one clear vision is realized. Given the talent of Aniston and Director Barnz, it's a shame they didn't follow this example.

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TRIVIALIZATION OF THE NEWStag:www.perdaily.com,2014://1.7472014-11-21T17:16:17Z2014-11-26T18:22:59Z(Mensaje se repite en Español)
When the cold war was still raging between the United States and the Soviet Union, one of the often cited examples of the difference between our supposedly open and democratic political system and the Soviets closed system was our free press as guaranteed to us by our constitution. The Soviets had Pravda, Isvestia, and Tass- state controlled media where their news outlets merely parroted Soviet government party line and we, while we had a marketplace of diverse and contending ideas.
Now in the United States where 5 corporation control virtually all commercial media and their foundations control public media content as well by making public media financially dependent on them through subsidies, it is becoming harder and harder for Americans to hear anything but corporate party line on any issue, since all that now seems to emanate from centrally produced "news" is the repetitious messages designed to drown out any other content or interpretation as to what is going on. Is corporate party line any different than Soviet party line?Leonard Isenberg(Mensaje se repite en Español)

When the cold war was still raging between the United States and the Soviet Union, one of the often cited examples of the difference between our supposedly open and democratic political system and the Soviets closed system was our free press as guaranteed to us by our constitution. The Soviets had Pravda, Isvestia, and Tass- state controlled media where their news outlets merely parroted Soviet government party line and we, while we had a marketplace of diverse and contending ideas.

Now in the United States where 5 corporation control virtually all commercial media and their foundations control public media content as well by making public media financially dependent on them through subsidies, it is becoming harder and harder for Americans to hear anything but corporate party line on any issue, since all that now seems to emanate from centrally produced "news" is the repetitious messages designed to drown out any other content or interpretation as to what is going on. Is corporate party line any different than Soviet party line?

One of the greatest ironies in a 2014 where an unprecedented technological society has access to information of any kind and in any language is the ubiquitous monosyllabic and simplistic manner in which we now communicate. In the video that follows, the initially funny nature of "news" broadcasters saying exactly the same think becomes more and more terrifying as you realize how news has been trivialized to put the American public asleep, instead of serving the function it is supposed to as a way of making us aware of and engaged in the important issues molding our times for worse and not better. In a democracy We The People are supposed to decide. In this bizarre version of it, the public no longer seems to even know what the question is.

Check out the following compilation of today's news from many sources. Feel free to jump ahead when you've had enough- you wont miss anything.

With radio and television clearly under corporate control in pushing the neoliberal agenda for privatization of all government function and a return to cut throat laissez faire capitalism, the fight to maintain net neutrality becomes all the more important as literally the last place where a virtual commons can exist to maintain democracy and the informed electorate necessary to sustain it.

While you still can, take a moment and contact the FCC to ask that its head Tom Wheeler guarantee net neutrality under Title II of the Telecommunications Act as President Obama has promised. The strength of ideas should be the sole determinant of how many people have access to what is said and not who pays the most in what is becoming just the latest incarnation of the Citizens United false notion that money is free speech.

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LAUSD & UTLA- IS CLASS SIZE REDUCTION THE BEST YOU CAN DO?tag:www.perdaily.com,2014://1.7422014-11-13T04:19:23Z2014-11-13T16:59:00ZIn 1939 the famous Yiddish actor Boris Tomashefsky dies just before going on stage for the opening night of King Lear. The understandably distraught manager of the theater goes out on stage to break the news to the awaiting eager audience that the show will not go on because of Tomashefsky's has died. The manager offers them their money back.
From way in the back of the theater an old lady yells out, "Give him an enema." The whole theater goes silent. "Madam," says the manager, "I don't think you understand. Mr. Tomashefsky is dead from a heart attack." The old lady pauses for just a moment and then says, "Well, it couldn't hurt."Leonard Isenberg(Mensaje se repite en Español)

In 1939 the famous Yiddish actor Boris Tomashefsky dies just before going on stage for the opening night of King Lear. The understandably distraught manager of the theater must then go out on stage to break the news to the awaiting eager audience that the show will not go on because of Tomashefsky's death. The manager offers them their money back.

From way in the back of the theater an old lady yells out, "Give him an enema." The whole theater goes silent. "Madam," says the manager, "I don't think you understand. Mr. Tomashefsky is dead from a heart attack." The old lady pauses for just a moment and then says, "Well, it couldn't hurt."

As to whether it will have any positive effect? It couldn't hurt. Or could it. Does class size reduction even remotely address the far more critical issue of social promotion that has put the majority of LAUSD students in grades far beyond where they should be, if mastery of prior grade-level standards was used as the sole litmus test as to what classes any student should be in.

What causes disruption and no learning in the vast majority of overcrowded classrooms in LAUSD is not the size of the class, but rather the inability of socially promoted students to understand what their teacher is talking about, so that they can be productively engaged in their education. They do not have the language, math, science, or other prior grade level standards mastery necessary for having any chance of achieving anything even remotely resembling productive classroom engagement.

In an LAUSD of the 1950s and 1960s when I went to school, classes were often over 30 and up to 40 on a regular basis. What was different then was that the students in any particular grade were predominantly at grade level and capable of being engaged by their teachers, because they hadn't been socially promoted, which has now become the rule at LAUSD for far too long.

When exceptionally a deficient student was put in a predominantly at grade level skilled class in the past, the time it took for these deficient students to catch up to their classmates was exceptionally short. Any decent teacher could have told Superintendent Cortines or any of the other non-teachers like him trying to fix broken public education that a classroom functioning at grade level is probably the most important educational tool for all teachers and students, since in this healthy educational environment, they learn as much from their classmates as they do from their teachers- sometimes more, since the greatest indicator of whether any student understands something they have been taught is their ability to teach it to somebody else.

In Japan, France, and other countries where greater diligence is spent either getting students caught up when they initially arrive at school or assuring that they stay current in subsequent years, classes are often as high as 60 without the slightest disruption that is now endemic to virtually all LAUSD classrooms that continue to be populated by purposefully humiliated students that continue to be passed from grade to grade without the skills they need to achieve their unique potential. All they are left to predictably do is disrupt their classes and ultimate dropout to awaiting gangs and prisons that become the unnecessary cost to this society for the crime of purposefully failing to educate all of its children.

If the lessening of class size doesn't work, one might try alternatively to address the relatively easy and significantly less expensive program of educationally regressing all students to their subjective actual academic level, where they would have the comfort so necessary for any student to learn. However, don't be surprised if Superintendent Ramon Cortines doesn't go for this, but rather suggests for his idea Number 2 an enema for all LAUSD students- after all, it couldn't hurt.

If you or someone you know has been targeted and are in the process of being dismissed and need legal defense, get in touch:

Lenny@perdaily.com

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